Preferences
by The Final Conduit
Summary: Noelle's question was one they imagined would be awkward, albeit Kris was willing to ask Susie anyway. After a harrowing experience of fighting to destroy a fountain that spewed shadows, it was perhaps an anticlimactic finish to their day to invite Susie to their house to work on their project (i.e. hang out and play games). So came their question: "Do you prefer boys, or girls?"
1. Smashing and Singing Praises

"Huh?!"

Susie's startled response to Kris' question made them glance over to her, them repeating their question as they sat in the latter's house playing games.

"Do you know if you like girls or guys?" They asked placidly.

"Where did this come from?" Susie questioned, Kris pausing their game of Super Smashing Fighters out of courtesy to the house guest.

"Would you believe me if I said I was just curious?"

"Well, I... I don't know, honestly." Susie flushed. "Do YOU know what you're into?"

Kris shrugged impassively.

"As long as there's love, I think that's all that counts. I'm pretty sure being the only human around doesn't give me many options, anyways. Not sure how monster biology is supposed to work with human biology, but it's whatever. Not like I can't adopt someone like my parents did for me."

"You're... really open-minded." Susie observed.

"I kind of have to be, to ask about your preferences." They pointed out.

Susie glanced down.

"Would it matter what my preferences are?" Susie was still cautious.

"Not really. We'll still be friends. I'm a non-binary pansexual anyways, so you can be honest about it." They assured while cracking a rare smile her way, and, in Kris' heart of hearts, this was the truth.

It didn't really make a difference to them what Susie's preferences were.

If not for Noelle asking about the matter, in fact, Kris wouldn't have bothered in the first place.

"I'm... not sure." Susie lamented. "I really don't know right now."

"Well... That's okay." They crossed their legs. "No need to have a definite answer. I'm sure time will tell."

"Uh... Thanks." Susie thanked with a small laugh.

In response to her honesty, Kris thought it only fair to tell the truth as they resumed the fight, having the knightly blonde swordsman attack the giant, fire breathing turtle Susie controlled.

"I'm asking because someone in class likes you."

Having said it with such casualness, Susie flinching in surprise and looking at them with a blanked out expression made Kris almost consider stopping themselves from ringing the turtle out in Susie's moment of distraction.

Their competitive nature caused them to deal the final blow of drudgery however, and the announcer suddenly shouting "GAME" made Susie's eyes snap back at the screen, a baffled look on her face.

The clashing set of stimuli festered conflicting responses in the girl, her torn between wanting to berate Kris for cheating and impulsively reacting to them telling her such information.

Finally, she found a viable response after a moment of bafflement, through which her eyes snapped between the TV and her friend back and forth.

"Kris, what the hell?!"

"It was just instinct." Kris said, shrugging, before they propped their elbow on their knee, their chin on their fist, them smirking over at her. "I had to do whatever I had to to win."

She glared at them.

"So that whole thing was just you trying to distract me?"

Kris raised their free hand defensively.

"No, not at all. There really IS someone in our class that's interested in you." Kris told her sincerely, and this managed to calm her somewhat, her purple cheeks growing red despite this.

"Well... Who is it?" Susie asked.

"It's not my place to say. They just wanted to know if you'd be interested in people of their gender." Kris glanced forward.

"... It's not you, is it?"

Kris glanced back over to her, ignoring the victory screen of their knight character, seeing her looking seriously at them.

They held Susie's gaze for a second, then, smiling, asked, "What if it was?"

They felt it was wrong to needle her in this matter, yet they felt the compulsion anyhow.

She gave a shocked look to them, then looked away, stammering over her words.

"Well... Uh... I mean..."

Kris chuckled lowly, and Susie, hearing this, responded by giving a punch to their arm, which only caused them to laugh even louder, despite the pain.

"Don't laugh at me! I've never had anyone say something like this before!" Susie yelled.

"I'm not the one who wanted to know your preferences." They admitted, and Susie growled in frustration.

"Oh shut up, you dork. You're just messing with me, aren't you? Admit it."

Kris hummed.

"Yes and no."

They mentally acknowledged that they probably just made it worse on themselves by saying this.

But, in their heart of hearts, they felt no regrets.

"What are you telling me then?!" Susie exclaimed.

"Someone in class DOES like you, and wanted to ask what your preferences were." They explained.

"But is it you?"

"No. I'm just the messenger for them." Kris shrugged. "Unless you're not comfortable with people knowing it, once you figure it out. I don't want to push you out of the closet, if you're not ready... Assuming there even IS a closet."

Susie sighed.

"Why would anyone like ME anyways?"

"Why WOULDN'T they?"

She gave them a look, and seeing the mischievous smile playing on their lips, she frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"You're a strong, loyal girl, not to mention cute." Kris' red eyes half-lidded. "Plus, you're pretty fun to hang out with. Anyone would be lucky to have you."

"Uh... Thanks." Susie said in a small voice, taken aback by the tone and expression Kris had, the mixed messages they were sending her taking her for a confusing loop. "I think you're uh... pretty cool too, for a nerd."

"Thanks." Kris replied, chuckling.

"Don't make jokes like that though. I thought you were serious for a second there." Susie said.

"About me being interested in you?" Kris asked for clarification.

"Yeah."

"What if I WAS interested though?"

"It's whatever. You aren't, are you?"

"Maybe."

She sighed.

"Why're you flip-flopping?"

"I guess I just think you'd make for a nice girlfriend." Kris told her. "That being said, I'm happy just being friends."

"Yeah." Susie nodded, smiling again, only to look at the character screen. "Hey, if Ralsei or Lancer were here, who do you think they would pick?"

* * *

**A/N**: I just wrote this based on the idea of Noelle asking Kris what Susie's preferences were, instead of stopping short.

I based Kris' personality around what Chara's implied to be like in Undertale, being sort of creepy, but not entirely evil, so much as just a bit mischievous when it comes to their friends.

I also had Kris and Susie play as Link and Bowser respectively since... well, you can probably tell from the similarities between their Dark World designs and the Smash characters.


	2. Doughnuts and Dating (not dating?)

One day, Susie found herself sitting inside the diner with Kris, the girl feeling a bit self-conscious sitting there.

"Susie, are you okay?" Kris asked her, eventually. "You look like you're troubled."

Her lizard-like eyes glanced up at them.

She wondered if it was worth it to ask, but followed through anyways.

"Kris, did you tell someone about me eating chalk?" Susie asked.

When they perked up in surprised confusion, she elaborated.

"There was someone today that left a pack of chalk in my desk, with a note saying that they heard I liked it. But you were the only person who saw me eating it."

Kris gave a long look at her, then looked away in a poor attempt to look surprised as opposed to guilty.

"That's... weird."

"Did you tell anyone?" She asked, knowingly.

"I... MIGHT'VE let it slip somewhere." They said, trying to shrug nonchalantly, but they saw from Susie's frown that she was upset by it, their composure crumbling under her look. "Someone was curious about what kind of things you liked. They asked me, since we spend so much time together now. I wasn't sure what to say, so I just... blurted out that I saw you eating chalk one time."

Susie mentally groaned.

She wasn't sure if she was more upset by Kris telling someone about that, or more annoyed by this anonymous "someone" constantly going to Kris as an intercessor.

While she imagined that it might be cute to some, it just felt sneaky to her.

If this "someone" was so interested in her, they could've just TALKED to her - granted, she might not have answered honestly if they asked something she didn't like, but that was besides the point.

Reading her face, Kris frowned.

"Sorry. I didn't think they'd buy you a whole pack of it. But why were you eating it in the first place? Can you talk about it? Or... Is it a sore subject?"

"Nah." Susie lied, without thinking. "I'm just annoyed with this whole thing. If someone wants to know about me, they can just ask. Them always going to you behind my back is... kind of annoying."

The fact that she often couldn't eat enough to get full was one thing, but it being to the point that she was eating school supplies was a low she wasn't keen on spreading around about herself.

People were intimidated enough by her as it was, she didn't need a pity party on top of that.

"I'm half tempted to tell them to go talk to you too, but... still, it's sort of made me realize something."

"Yeah?"

"I don't really KNOW much about you." They replied, then, in an awkward tone, voiced their desire. "And... I want to know more."

Susie looked at them for a moment, raising an eyebrow.

"That the reason you invited me over here Kris? To try and get a read on me?"

Kris looked down a bit sheepishly.

"You're the first friend I've had for a while, you know, besides Noelle." They said. "After Asriel left, it's been kind of weird. People were always put off by me somehow, thinking I was just some creepy person who had some super cool guy as a foster brother. I don't know what to think about this relationship we have, but I..."

Kris trailed off when they noticed their waitress bringing over a bowl of doughnuts, some jelly-filled, some just being a normal glazed, the majority of them being heart-shaped.

"Thanks." They said to Catti, her setting his special cup of cocoa down for them before walking off without much of a word.

Susie, having been listening intently, looked at the doughnuts, but then looked to Kris.

"What were you saying, Kris?"

Kris had been looking to the heart-shaped pastries, then averted their eyes.

"Never mind."

Susie stared at them, then sighed.

"Just come out with it." She told them flatly.

"Fine." Kris said after a moment. "I just... I don't want to lose my first friend. That's what we are, right?"

"Well... Yeah."

Susie realized then that both of them hadn't really come out and said it yet, beyond that spur of the moment when she tried protecting Kris from Lancer's dad.

"We only became friends because of us getting thrown down into the Dark World together." Kris lamented. "I'm happy to say we ARE friends, but I'm kind of worried. I just thought, "What'll happen, if we end up not being able to go there anymore someday? Would we still be friends"?"

Kris gave a small, bitter smile.

"So I just wanted to try getting to know you better. So we don't have to worry about our friendship ending over something we can't control."

Susie looked at them, then managed a smile.

"You were thinking on this for a while, weren't you?"

"Yeah." They cracked a grin in turn, sheepish. "It's not weird, is it?"

"To be honest, I'm happy to be friends too. Hell if I know what goes into it though. It's kinda nice, either way."

Susie languidly propped her elbows on the top of the booth they sat in, trying to look cool, and the blatant attempt made Kris snort.

"No need to worry. We can take it slow, figure out what works best for us." Their red eyes found the platter of doughnuts before them. "Starting with these doughnuts."

"What about 'em?" Susie looked to the doughnuts in question.

"You really seemed to like them in the Dark World. So I bought them for you."

Susie flushed in mild embarrassment, but smiled gratefully nonetheless.

"I thought they looked familiar. Now I know why. What about you though? Do YOU like them?"

They shook their head.

"Really? Why not?"

"It's the shape, to be honest. I'm not a fan of heart shaped things." They pointed a finger at the doughnuts for emphasis.

"Really? What's your beef with hearts?"

"I wish I could say." Kris said, absent-mindedly.

Susie looked at them curiously, then grinned.

"What would you say if someone gave you a bunch of chocolate in some heart-shaped package?" She asked, and Kris glanced up to her. "For like, Valentine's or crap like that."

Kris' expression brightened, and they snickered.

"I'd DEFINITELY eat them."

"THAT was a quick answer."

"I can't judge the contents from the packaging. Then I'd probably miss out on something nice that tastes awesome."

"I guess it's safe to say you like chocolate then?"

It was like watching a light go up in their eyes when Kris replied, passionately declaring that it was the best snack in the history of snacks, and no one could prove them otherwise.

"Convince me then." Susie challenged, and Kris smirked, expositing their knowledge to their friend.

* * *

"Uh... Catti?"

At hearing Noelle speaking to them, Catti glanced up from her phone.

Noelle flushed a bit, then asked.

"Is... Is it true that Kris and Susie went out to eat at the diner?"

She stared at the girl, then spoke, "Yes."

* * *

A/N: I have no set plot in mind for this, it's just stuff that comes to mind over time.


End file.
